B.C. Canada sees spike in number of sudden infant deaths — “Why so many of those have come up this year, we don’t know”

B.C.’s chief coroner is urging parents to use safe sleep practices in light of a spike in the number of sudden infant deaths across the province this year.

There have been 21 sudden infant deaths in B.C. so far this year, while there were 16 sudden infant deaths for all of 2010, Lisa Lapointe said Tuesday. [...]

She said the reason for the increased number of deaths is all the more mysterious because health authorities, family doctors and public health nurses have kept up efforts to educate parents.

The B.C. Coroner’s Service is continuing to investigate the 21 deaths.

[link to www.cbc.ca]